All Chapters of Sexy Behind The Mask: Chapter 121 - Chapter 130

235 Chapters

Chapter One Hundred-Twenty-One

After he had cleaned up Nate settled Prue on the sofa with more coffee, he hadn't even allowed her to change or shower. Then retrieved his laptop from the kitchen counter. She watched him set it up on the coffee table, her jaw tight, arms crossed over her chest."I'm calling a friend first," Nate said, opening the laptop. "Someone who can explain this better than I can. Plus, it's someone that you might believe.""A friend." Her laugh was brittle. "Let me guess, someone you paid to back up your story?"He didn't respond, just pulled up a video call application and dialed. The screen rang twice before a man appeared, sitting in what looked like an office with bland beige walls and government-issued furniture. No experience spare there. Yeah right."Nate." The man nodded, his expression professional. He was maybe forty, with close-cropped hair and sharp eyes that Prue immediately recognized as law enforcement. "This her?""Prue, this is Tim Koder. Tim, my wife Prue.""Ma'am." Tim's smile

Chapter One Hundred-Twenty-Two

Four Years AgoPrue Brooks stepped out of the aircraft and into a wall of humid air that hit her in the face. Almost straight away, sweat broke out on her skin. Papua New Guinea was loud in ways Washington never was. Somewhere beyond the chain-link fences and security, birds shrieked, men shouted, luggage carts rattled over cracked concrete. Life. Proper messy life. Not the polished life she had led in the States or the very proper schools she had attended. Daddy had wanted her to attend some finishing school in France; she had refused and worked instead for a nonprofit, 'Educating Our Future', helping underprivileged kids get a good education.She paused at the top of the mobile stairs for half a heartbeat, letting it sink in. Three weeks in Port Moresby. Three weeks before her father wrapped up his final overseas posting and they headed home for good. Back to the States. Back to the house in Savannah he hadn’t set foot in since her mother’s funeral. Back to a life that wouldn't invol

Chapter One Hundred-Twenty-Three

On the drive from the airport to the hotel, he sat in the front passenger seat next to the driver, shoulders loose, eyes never still. Port Moresby slid past the window in flashes, bright market stalls, clusters of children barefoot on dusty verges, gleaming new glass buildings beside rusted corrugated iron. It was the kind of city that wore its contradictions openly.Behind him, the Ambassador spoke with Miller about the schedule for the coming weeks, starting with a state dinner at Government House. Meetings with local officials. Visits to aid projects funded by the States. Nothing out of the ordinary. High-profile enough to make them a potential target, not high-profile enough to warrant a full Secret Service detail. That was where men like him came in.His guys were all busy, Jakarta, Bangkok, a detail in Sydney. When the call came from an old Marine contact in Canberra asking if he could handle a three-week assignment personally, he’d said yes. A chance to build Elite Protection’s

Chapter One Hundred-Twenty-Four

Nate shoved the phone back in his pocket and headed for the lobby at a jog, forcing himself to think like her. Which was impossible he wasn't a twenty old female. So he did his best.If he were a reckless, curious girl with a taste for trouble, what would he do?His jaw tightened as the answer came to him.He would go find life. The brightest, loudest, least controlled thing he could reach.Which meant he had about five minutes before she disappeared into the city properly. Looking for trouble. If one of his men had lost her, he would have crewed them a new one.“Of all the jobs,” he muttered, “I had to take the one with the diplomat’s daughter, who is going to be a pain in my ass."Nate burst through the hotel's front doors, scanning the street. The boulevard outside the hotel teemed with life, local vendors hawking fruit from makeshift stalls, taxis honking, pedestrians weaving through gaps in traffic with practiced ease. No sign of a blonde head among the sea of dark hair.The SUV

Chapter One Hundred-Twenty-Five

She should have guessed there'd be a formal dinner the first night. Well, they did say no rest for the wicked, and she would say her thoughts about Nate had been very wicked indeed. Not just the getting-him-naked part, but also the pushing of every single one of his buttons to see just how good that iron control of his really was.The state dinner at Government House had been precisely as awful as she'd predicted. Eight courses. Speeches that went on long enough for her to mentally redecorate the entire dining room twice over, and then start on the hallway for good measure. A table setting so formal she'd counted the silverware twice just to stay awake. Her father had been magnificent, of course, all gracious smiles and carefully measured words, working the room with the ease of a man who'd spent thirty years doing exactly this. Prue had sat beside him, smiled until her cheeks ached, and said all the right things to all the right people.She deserved a medal. Several, in fact. If ther

Chapter One Hundred-Twenty-Six

She spent the first part of the next morning having breakfast with her father in the hotel restaurant. Him reading documents as she drank coffee and watched the street through the window and occasionally pointed out things she found interesting. She didn't mind this was his job and she was gatecrashing.Nate sat three tables away, back to the wall, with a coffee he barely touched, watching the room.She couldn't wait to start her day, but she didn't want to seem too excited, because he might pick up on her energy and know something was off.Her father folded his papers and checked his watch. "I should head to the embassy. These meetings will likely run until mid-afternoon." He reached across to squeeze her hand. "Stay close to Mr Young, sweetheart.""Of course, Daddy." She kissed his cheek, all dutiful daughter sweetness. "Have a productive morning."As soon as her father disappeared through the restaurant doors, she turned her attention to Nate. He was already moving, crossing the di

Chapter One Hundred-Twenty-Seven

The taxi driver, a weathered man with kind eyes, spoke broken English but understood her gestures well enough when she pointed to the address she'd written on a scrap of paper. The community kitchen sat tucked between a medical clinic and a small church, its corrugated metal roof gleaming under the harsh midday sun.Prue paid the driver and stepped out onto the dusty street. The building looked modest from the outside, but the moment she pushed through the front door, the rich aroma of cooking food and the sound of voices hit her like a wave.Women moved between large pots and preparation tables. Children darted between their legs, some helping by carrying plates, others simply playing. It was chaos, but it wasn't. Prue grinned.An older woman with silver-streaked hair tied back in a colourful headscarf looked up from stirring a massive pot of what smelled like curry."You lost, sweetheart?" the woman asked in accented English, wiping her hands on her apron."Not lost," Prue said, ste

Chapter One Hundred-Twenty-Eight

His eyes flashed. "No. But that's not a bad idea.""Then how?" She knew he would, but she still wanted to know how he had done it."Not many women that look like you in Papua New Guinea." His voice was clipped, professional, but she caught the slight tightening around his eyes that he couldn't quite control. "I greased a few palms and got the intel I needed."She turned to face him fully then, one hip cocked against the serving counter. "Well, I'm nearly finished here. Ten minutes.""You're finished now."The quiet authority in his voice sent a shiver down her spine that she had absolutely no business enjoying. But before she could respond, Mary stepped between them like a woman who had dealt with far more difficult situations than one furious bodyguard."No, no, no." She wagged her wooden spoon at Nate. "She has been working hard all morning. You do not take someone away without feeding them first. It is rude."Nate opened his mouth. Mary was already steering him toward a small table

Chapter One Hundred-Twenty-Nine

"Miss Brooks," Nate said, his voice controlled but it carried an edge, "we need to establish some ground rules for the rest of your stay."Prue turned from the side window, those green eyes dancing with mischief. "Oh, do we? How excitin’. But before we start this thrillin’ conversation… Prue. My name is Prue, and I’d like you to use it."He ignored that. "This isn't a game." He shifted in his seat to face her more directly. "What you did today was reckless. Disappearing without a word, turning off your phone—"So, he had tried to have her tracked by GPS. She’d read it in a spy book once, that a phone could be tracked even if it didn’t have a signal. She hadn’t known if it was true until now."I didn’t have signal anyway," she answered innocently. "I didn’t want waste power, so I turned it off." It was partly true but not the full truth. If a phone searched no stop for a signal, it drained the power. So, turning off the phone had been a win win.He went on like she hadn't spoken."—lea

Chapter One Hundred-Thirty

That night, she sat across from her father at a quiet corner table in the hotel roof top restaurant. The space was elegant in that understated way expensive hotels managed, white tablecloths, low lighting. Her father had insisted on dinner, just the two of them, a rare moment in-between his meetings until they were tied up. They would have some time at the end of the three weeks.Nate stood near the entrance, back to the wall, hands loose at his sides. Watching. Always watching. The man was always alert. Did he never relax?She couldn't help it. Her eyes drifted toward him for what had to be the tenth time since they'd sat down. Maybe the twentieth. She'd lost count somewhere between the appetizer and the wine her father had ordered. Nate may look completely at ease standing there, but she knew better now. Knew the way his eyes tracked movement, watching doorways, assessed threats in the span of a heartbeat. Knew the coiled tension that lived under all that stillness.Knew how his jaw

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